Jerry Cantrell was, and still is, the chief sonic architect. Perhaps it would be churlish to suggest that AiC sans Staley is an abomination upon their good name. If he was the heart and soul, just what is the point of a new Alice in Chains album in 2009? Staley succumbed to his smack addition in 2002, estranged from his band mates whilst they were on hiatus. It was, in many people’s eyes, Alice in Chains’ late singer who gave the band that depth, that innate ability to rise above the embarrassing tropes of rock music. Another assertion as to their merits came from Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, "Layne Staley was into what he did and his heart was in the right place… he came from a cheesy metal background and totally transcended that”. Sophomore effort, Dirt, is probably the sickliest, grimmest, multi-million selling rock album of all time. They stunk of illness, too, adding credence to their gnarly aura. They didn’t pine for alternative credibility like others. Today, when Sunn O))) grace the cover of Wire magazine or Megadeth’s new album is the subject to feverish preview at The Quietus, it’s hard to remember that, in the early Nineties, the metal was a derogatory term associated with truly awful music like Joey Belladonna era Anthrax.ĭespite this, Alice in Chains were grudgingly accepted by the music cognoscenti. They had no links to grunge’s cultural epicenter, Sub Pop, and, despite an aesthetic similar to the others in the Big Four, Alice in Chains were the most, er, metal. But Alice in Chains were the odd ones out. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were synonymous with angst, plaid shirts, Seattle and smack in the early half of the Nineties. The Pacific North West musical phenomenon that was grunge offered up a Big Four of commercially unstoppable bands/brands.
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